Bar Exam Tips

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I passed the Washington State Bar Exam (UBE) on my second try and became registered as attorney at law in 2018.As a recent exam passer, I write this article for future exam takers (especially for foreign LLMs).I am Japanese. I have lived in Japan for more than 40 years and have never lived abroad. I work in Japan, and I usually do not speak English. I graduated from the University of Tokyo and an online law school in the US (LLM), which is why I have not lived in the US. Usually, I am engaged…

a) What is the passing rate for foreign LLM graduates?Statistically, the passing rate is about 20% to 40%.However, passing varies depending on your background, knowledge, experience, and skills.(1) StatisticsSummaries of relevant information with regard to the passing rates are as follows:(May 2019 Update) I updated the data for February 2019 exam.(a) Washington2017F2017J2018F2018JABA-JD58.0%76.0%50.2%72.4%Foreign/LLM Graduate30.6%34.8%30.0%23.7%Foreign Common Law Attorney0.0%25.0%12.5%40.0%T…

a) Which materials should I use?Based on my experience, I recommend the following.(1) Critical PassYou can see samples here.This is a set of condensed flash cards for black letter laws and provides the major points that are likely to be tested. It is popularly used now.There are many subjects on the exam and you do not have enough time to read through thick legal books for each subject.Using this material, you can understand and memorize essential knowledge that you should be good at handling…

a) Which materials should I use?Based on my experience, I recommend the following.(1) Adaptibar (includes about 2,000 questions)A free trial is offered here.Adaptibar has approximately 1,800 NCBE licensed questions (including 400 NCBE OPE questions) and 200 simulated questions.I think this is the best material for MBE study.There is no better way of knowing the exam than the exam itself.As Adaptibar uses past actual MBE questions, the quality of the questions is assured.Moreover, the explanat…

a) Which materials should I use?Based on my experience, I recommend the following.(1) NCBE MEE Questions and AnalysesUSD 15 for each downloadI practiced the 2010–2017 exams (eight years) with about 120 questions.You can download the previous exams (2009–2013 exams, as of today) at no cost here.The most important thing for this material is its sample answers.These are released by NCBE, which means you can understand what is critical and what is not during the actual exam.This should be your pr…

a) Which materials should I use?Based on my experience, I recommend the following.(1) NCBE MPTs and Point SheetsUSD 25 for each downloadI practiced the 2008–2017 exams (ten years), with about 40 questions.You can download previously administered exams (2009–2013 exams, as of today) at no cost here.As with the MEE part, as these were released by the official organization, you can understand clearly what is critical during the actual exam.This should be a primary source, from which you can lear…

a) What is the point to remember for MEE and MPT?I emphasize the importance of the materials released by NCBE.As mentioned above, I took the UBE twice.Although my score improvement for MBE was slight, my score for the writing portion (MEE + MPT) increased by about 40 points.These were the areas I gave up on owing to my poor language abilities.As for the MBE, studying with past actual questions (e.g., Adaptibar, Emanuel) is becoming increasingly popular.I think the reason is that the past ques…

I mention below a few points I had in mind on the exam day.a) MEEYou have three hours for six questions, which means 30 minutes for each question on average.I handled each according to the following schedule.10–15 minutes: Read a question and build my answer outline15–20 minutes: Make my answerMy method for MEE was as follows:(1) First five minutes after startingI quickly glanced at all six questions and analyzed which referred to what subject.(2) After the previous stepI handled each questio…

There is no sole standard way to pass the exam, because abilities, skills, and preferences vary depending on each person’s background.Moreover, subject to the circumstances of the era, the way to prepare for and take the exam can change.The above represents the advice of a recent exam passer.I would be happy if you found anything useful for you and succeed in your challenge at last.